Numerical simulation of natural convection in a sessile liquid droplet

Heat transfer in a sessile liquid droplet was studied with numerical methods. A computer code was developed for solving the problem of convection in an axisymmetric hemispherical droplet and in a spherical layer as well. The problem of establishing an equilibrium state in a droplet was solved using several variables: temperature, stream function, and vorticity. Simulation was performed for droplets of water, ethyl alcohol, and model liquids. Variable parameters: intensity of heat transfer from droplet surface, Rayleigh and Marangoni dimensionless criteria, and the characteristic temperature difference. It was revealed that the curve of convective flow intensity versus heat transfer intensity at droplet surface has a maximum. A dual-vortex structure was obtained in a stationary hemispherical profile of liquid droplet for the case of close values for thermocapillary and thermogravitational forces. Either thermocapillary or thermogravitational vortex might be dominating phenomena in the flow structure.